The Cubist Epoch by Douglas CooperReview by: David M. SokolArt Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Autumn, 1971), p. 102Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/775647 .

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stra's thesis that Williams had begun to manifest a concern for poetic form based neither on traditional narrative sequence, verbal tonalities, nor upon poetic meta- phor but upon a purely visual imagery. Indeed, Kora in Hell contains in its subti- tle Improvisations a direct admiration of Kandinsky's program as stated in The Spiritual in Art (excerpts had been printed in Camera Work). Further, Wil- liams felt that his poetry should be analo- gous to what the painters were doing: "an impressionistic view of the simultaneous" (p. 70).

Williams met Stieglitz in 1913. From then on, Williams became an intimate member of the 291 circle. Within a rela- tively short period, Williams began to work in more cryptic phrases. His work and attitude took on an evangelical zeal parallel to that of Stieglitz and the artists of the 291 Gallery. The range of exhibi- tions, the range of essays and reproduc- tions published in Camera Work and in 291 (Apollinaire, Gleizes, Kandinsky, Pi- cabia, etc.), and the range of the dialogue at the gallery or at Walter Arensberg's apartment were all an intensive involve- ment for Williams. Such intensity Wil- liams notes in his autobiography:

"Time meant nothing to me. I might be in the middle of some flu epidemic, the phone ringing day and night, madly, not a moment free. That made no difference. If the fit was on me-if something Stieglitz or Kenneth (Burke) had said was burning inside me, having bred there overnight de- manding outlet-I would be like a woman at term; no matter what else was up, that demand had to be met" (p. 105).

Bram Dijkstra has integrated an impell- ing figure-ground relation between Wil- liams, Stieglitz, and some aspects of mod- ern art. The Hieroglyphics of a New Speech, then, is as much concerned for a total milieu as it is concerned purely for the poetry of William Carlos Williams. Indeed, the sense of intense interchange, the sense of intense experimentation is rather admirably presented. The array of diverse possibilities available to the young artist, as he attempts to form himself, ap- pears in contemporary wonder, puzzle- ment, enthusiasms, successes, and failures. Such an achievement is well worth not- ing. However, Dijkstra renders an addi- tional service to art history: a fresh look at the role of Stieglitz and the 291 Gallery in the introduction and formation of much of modern art in America.

CHARLES HESS San Francisco State College

stra's thesis that Williams had begun to manifest a concern for poetic form based neither on traditional narrative sequence, verbal tonalities, nor upon poetic meta- phor but upon a purely visual imagery. Indeed, Kora in Hell contains in its subti- tle Improvisations a direct admiration of Kandinsky's program as stated in The Spiritual in Art (excerpts had been printed in Camera Work). Further, Wil- liams felt that his poetry should be analo- gous to what the painters were doing: "an impressionistic view of the simultaneous" (p. 70).

Williams met Stieglitz in 1913. From then on, Williams became an intimate member of the 291 circle. Within a rela- tively short period, Williams began to work in more cryptic phrases. His work and attitude took on an evangelical zeal parallel to that of Stieglitz and the artists of the 291 Gallery. The range of exhibi- tions, the range of essays and reproduc- tions published in Camera Work and in 291 (Apollinaire, Gleizes, Kandinsky, Pi- cabia, etc.), and the range of the dialogue at the gallery or at Walter Arensberg's apartment were all an intensive involve- ment for Williams. Such intensity Wil- liams notes in his autobiography:

"Time meant nothing to me. I might be in the middle of some flu epidemic, the phone ringing day and night, madly, not a moment free. That made no difference. If the fit was on me-if something Stieglitz or Kenneth (Burke) had said was burning inside me, having bred there overnight de- manding outlet-I would be like a woman at term; no matter what else was up, that demand had to be met" (p. 105).

Bram Dijkstra has integrated an impell- ing figure-ground relation between Wil- liams, Stieglitz, and some aspects of mod- ern art. The Hieroglyphics of a New Speech, then, is as much concerned for a total milieu as it is concerned purely for the poetry of William Carlos Williams. Indeed, the sense of intense interchange, the sense of intense experimentation is rather admirably presented. The array of diverse possibilities available to the young artist, as he attempts to form himself, ap- pears in contemporary wonder, puzzle- ment, enthusiasms, successes, and failures. Such an achievement is well worth not- ing. However, Dijkstra renders an addi- tional service to art history: a fresh look at the role of Stieglitz and the 291 Gallery in the introduction and formation of much of modern art in America.

CHARLES HESS San Francisco State College

stra's thesis that Williams had begun to manifest a concern for poetic form based neither on traditional narrative sequence, verbal tonalities, nor upon poetic meta- phor but upon a purely visual imagery. Indeed, Kora in Hell contains in its subti- tle Improvisations a direct admiration of Kandinsky's program as stated in The Spiritual in Art (excerpts had been printed in Camera Work). Further, Wil- liams felt that his poetry should be analo- gous to what the painters were doing: "an impressionistic view of the simultaneous" (p. 70).

Williams met Stieglitz in 1913. From then on, Williams became an intimate member of the 291 circle. Within a rela- tively short period, Williams began to work in more cryptic phrases. His work and attitude took on an evangelical zeal parallel to that of Stieglitz and the artists of the 291 Gallery. The range of exhibi- tions, the range of essays and reproduc- tions published in Camera Work and in 291 (Apollinaire, Gleizes, Kandinsky, Pi- cabia, etc.), and the range of the dialogue at the gallery or at Walter Arensberg's apartment were all an intensive involve- ment for Williams. Such intensity Wil- liams notes in his autobiography:

"Time meant nothing to me. I might be in the middle of some flu epidemic, the phone ringing day and night, madly, not a moment free. That made no difference. If the fit was on me-if something Stieglitz or Kenneth (Burke) had said was burning inside me, having bred there overnight de- manding outlet-I would be like a woman at term; no matter what else was up, that demand had to be met" (p. 105).

Bram Dijkstra has integrated an impell- ing figure-ground relation between Wil- liams, Stieglitz, and some aspects of mod- ern art. The Hieroglyphics of a New Speech, then, is as much concerned for a total milieu as it is concerned purely for the poetry of William Carlos Williams. Indeed, the sense of intense interchange, the sense of intense experimentation is rather admirably presented. The array of diverse possibilities available to the young artist, as he attempts to form himself, ap- pears in contemporary wonder, puzzle- ment, enthusiasms, successes, and failures. Such an achievement is well worth not- ing. However, Dijkstra renders an addi- tional service to art history: a fresh look at the role of Stieglitz and the 291 Gallery in the introduction and formation of much of modern art in America.

CHARLES HESS San Francisco State College

Douglas Cooper The Cubist Epoch, 320 pp., 347 ill. Lon-

don: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1970. $4.95. This book was written specifically for

the Cubist Epoch Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum and the Metro- politan Museum of Art, but is, obviously, far more than a catalog. It is the attempt of a long-time collector/friend of the Cubists to provide the definitive answer as to what are the boundaries of Cubism.

The author restricts the Cubist Epoch, in its pure form, to the period between 1906 and 1920, and Cubism, in any form ends by 1940. He also restricts member- ship in the true Cubist group to Braque, Gris, Picasso and, for a brief period, Leger, feeling that all other painters asso- ciated with the movement either lacked understanding or purposefully altered its conceptions. By setting such specific boundaries he discards various people we might traditionally associate with Cubism and gives us no other place to put them. But that is our problem, not his.

While the catalog is quite valuable both for the selection and quality of the paintings, and for the numerous color plates, there is very little in the author's analysis that is not open to serious chal- lenge. The major criticism can be di- rected against his basic assumption that Cubism was a new reality rather than a new pictorial language. To think of works like "Ma Jolie" in these terms is as incor- rect as to say, as Marshall McLuhan did, that in "Man in a Chair" Picasso is trying to tell us what it feels like to sit in a chair. Cubism is for Cooper, a completely unique invention rather than the first movement to carry the banner of the for- mal values that have become so important in the twentieth century.

The author also, because of his keen desire to set Cubism apart, produces some rather tortured reasons for the appear- ance of certain recognizable objects in the various paintings rather than coming to grips with the basic contradictions inher- ent in the works of the period. It is unfor- tunate that this is the case, for it is evi- dent that the author has a tremendous amount of information to give us, and only obscures the value of his important contributions to our understanding of the formative years of the Cubist style by in- sisting on his own theories.

The book is most useful if approached with the idea of placing much of the art of the originators side by side, and learn- ing about the chronology and variety of the work produced by these modern mas- ters. We are awakened to a new awareness of the variety and diversity within the limits (even those imposed by Cooper) of the period and to the extent of the early

Douglas Cooper The Cubist Epoch, 320 pp., 347 ill. Lon-

don: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1970. $4.95. This book was written specifically for

the Cubist Epoch Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum and the Metro- politan Museum of Art, but is, obviously, far more than a catalog. It is the attempt of a long-time collector/friend of the Cubists to provide the definitive answer as to what are the boundaries of Cubism.

The author restricts the Cubist Epoch, in its pure form, to the period between 1906 and 1920, and Cubism, in any form ends by 1940. He also restricts member- ship in the true Cubist group to Braque, Gris, Picasso and, for a brief period, Leger, feeling that all other painters asso- ciated with the movement either lacked understanding or purposefully altered its conceptions. By setting such specific boundaries he discards various people we might traditionally associate with Cubism and gives us no other place to put them. But that is our problem, not his.

While the catalog is quite valuable both for the selection and quality of the paintings, and for the numerous color plates, there is very little in the author's analysis that is not open to serious chal- lenge. The major criticism can be di- rected against his basic assumption that Cubism was a new reality rather than a new pictorial language. To think of works like "Ma Jolie" in these terms is as incor- rect as to say, as Marshall McLuhan did, that in "Man in a Chair" Picasso is trying to tell us what it feels like to sit in a chair. Cubism is for Cooper, a completely unique invention rather than the first movement to carry the banner of the for- mal values that have become so important in the twentieth century.

The author also, because of his keen desire to set Cubism apart, produces some rather tortured reasons for the appear- ance of certain recognizable objects in the various paintings rather than coming to grips with the basic contradictions inher- ent in the works of the period. It is unfor- tunate that this is the case, for it is evi- dent that the author has a tremendous amount of information to give us, and only obscures the value of his important contributions to our understanding of the formative years of the Cubist style by in- sisting on his own theories.

The book is most useful if approached with the idea of placing much of the art of the originators side by side, and learn- ing about the chronology and variety of the work produced by these modern mas- ters. We are awakened to a new awareness of the variety and diversity within the limits (even those imposed by Cooper) of the period and to the extent of the early

Douglas Cooper The Cubist Epoch, 320 pp., 347 ill. Lon-

don: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1970. $4.95. This book was written specifically for

the Cubist Epoch Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum and the Metro- politan Museum of Art, but is, obviously, far more than a catalog. It is the attempt of a long-time collector/friend of the Cubists to provide the definitive answer as to what are the boundaries of Cubism.

The author restricts the Cubist Epoch, in its pure form, to the period between 1906 and 1920, and Cubism, in any form ends by 1940. He also restricts member- ship in the true Cubist group to Braque, Gris, Picasso and, for a brief period, Leger, feeling that all other painters asso- ciated with the movement either lacked understanding or purposefully altered its conceptions. By setting such specific boundaries he discards various people we might traditionally associate with Cubism and gives us no other place to put them. But that is our problem, not his.

While the catalog is quite valuable both for the selection and quality of the paintings, and for the numerous color plates, there is very little in the author's analysis that is not open to serious chal- lenge. The major criticism can be di- rected against his basic assumption that Cubism was a new reality rather than a new pictorial language. To think of works like "Ma Jolie" in these terms is as incor- rect as to say, as Marshall McLuhan did, that in "Man in a Chair" Picasso is trying to tell us what it feels like to sit in a chair. Cubism is for Cooper, a completely unique invention rather than the first movement to carry the banner of the for- mal values that have become so important in the twentieth century.

The author also, because of his keen desire to set Cubism apart, produces some rather tortured reasons for the appear- ance of certain recognizable objects in the various paintings rather than coming to grips with the basic contradictions inher- ent in the works of the period. It is unfor- tunate that this is the case, for it is evi- dent that the author has a tremendous amount of information to give us, and only obscures the value of his important contributions to our understanding of the formative years of the Cubist style by in- sisting on his own theories.

The book is most useful if approached with the idea of placing much of the art of the originators side by side, and learn- ing about the chronology and variety of the work produced by these modern mas- ters. We are awakened to a new awareness of the variety and diversity within the limits (even those imposed by Cooper) of the period and to the extent of the early

twentieth century art-world is reaction to its birth.

In spite of the author's rejection of the role of Cubism as the father of formal or- der in modern art, he has helped to pro- vide us with a clear look at the Cubist Ep- och.

DAVID M. SOKOL

University of Illinois, Chicago Circle

Anna Balakian Andre Breton, 289 pp., 12 ill. New York:

Oxford University Press, 1971. $10.00.

Among Professor Balakian's several scholarly writings on surrealism (most no- tably, Literary Origins of Surrealism and Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute), all of which contain information of inter- est and value to historians and teachers of modern art, Andre Breton is unquestion- ably the book which is most-indeed, it is directly-pertinent to the visual arts.

Balakian's study of Breton is a first-rate, full-dress biography (including for exam- ple, mention of Breton's unheralded habit of wearing an anti-establishment, black-colored shirt under his outerwear); but much more than this, her book offers penetrating, previously undisclosed in- sights into the very nerve center of the surrealist impulse. Further, Breton is re- vealed as a valuable resource on the theo- retical bases of art criticism; and, in a most poignant paradox, he is shown to have been both critic and victim of com- promise. Having fenced himself and his colleagues into tightly circumscribed ethi- cal strictures in the arts, and then exiling himself to the United States during World War II, he incurred the politico-ar- tistic disdain of existentialists Sartre and Camus, as well as others who had re- mained in France during the occupation.

Balakian demonstrates personal artistry based on sound scholarship in her ana- lytic portrayal of the galaxy of beings which constituted Breton the man/poet/ critic/polemicist/entrepreneur. Interest- ingly enough, since Breton by no means considered himself a visual artist and even though Balakian's rather exhaustive study portrays him only as having a "relationship with an art in which he was not adept," it turns out in actual fact that at least on one occasion Breton proved himself to be a sensitive and, indeed, gifted artist whose untitled 1942 collage is a highly valued part of the New York University Art Col- lection (see illustration).

The author's delineation of what might be called Breton's "irrationale" of surreal- ism cogently describes it as an impulse shared by such artists as Chagall, Dali, de Chirico, Duchamp, Ernst, Miro, Man Ray, and Tanguy to: (a) change the in- tention of objects; (b) juxtapose them;

twentieth century art-world is reaction to its birth.

In spite of the author's rejection of the role of Cubism as the father of formal or- der in modern art, he has helped to pro- vide us with a clear look at the Cubist Ep- och.

DAVID M. SOKOL

University of Illinois, Chicago Circle

Anna Balakian Andre Breton, 289 pp., 12 ill. New York:

Oxford University Press, 1971. $10.00.

Among Professor Balakian's several scholarly writings on surrealism (most no- tably, Literary Origins of Surrealism and Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute), all of which contain information of inter- est and value to historians and teachers of modern art, Andre Breton is unquestion- ably the book which is most-indeed, it is directly-pertinent to the visual arts.

Balakian's study of Breton is a first-rate, full-dress biography (including for exam- ple, mention of Breton's unheralded habit of wearing an anti-establishment, black-colored shirt under his outerwear); but much more than this, her book offers penetrating, previously undisclosed in- sights into the very nerve center of the surrealist impulse. Further, Breton is re- vealed as a valuable resource on the theo- retical bases of art criticism; and, in a most poignant paradox, he is shown to have been both critic and victim of com- promise. Having fenced himself and his colleagues into tightly circumscribed ethi- cal strictures in the arts, and then exiling himself to the United States during World War II, he incurred the politico-ar- tistic disdain of existentialists Sartre and Camus, as well as others who had re- mained in France during the occupation.

Balakian demonstrates personal artistry based on sound scholarship in her ana- lytic portrayal of the galaxy of beings which constituted Breton the man/poet/ critic/polemicist/entrepreneur. Interest- ingly enough, since Breton by no means considered himself a visual artist and even though Balakian's rather exhaustive study portrays him only as having a "relationship with an art in which he was not adept," it turns out in actual fact that at least on one occasion Breton proved himself to be a sensitive and, indeed, gifted artist whose untitled 1942 collage is a highly valued part of the New York University Art Col- lection (see illustration).

The author's delineation of what might be called Breton's "irrationale" of surreal- ism cogently describes it as an impulse shared by such artists as Chagall, Dali, de Chirico, Duchamp, Ernst, Miro, Man Ray, and Tanguy to: (a) change the in- tention of objects; (b) juxtapose them;

twentieth century art-world is reaction to its birth.

In spite of the author's rejection of the role of Cubism as the father of formal or- der in modern art, he has helped to pro- vide us with a clear look at the Cubist Ep- och.

DAVID M. SOKOL

University of Illinois, Chicago Circle

Anna Balakian Andre Breton, 289 pp., 12 ill. New York:

Oxford University Press, 1971. $10.00.

Among Professor Balakian's several scholarly writings on surrealism (most no- tably, Literary Origins of Surrealism and Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute), all of which contain information of inter- est and value to historians and teachers of modern art, Andre Breton is unquestion- ably the book which is most-indeed, it is directly-pertinent to the visual arts.

Balakian's study of Breton is a first-rate, full-dress biography (including for exam- ple, mention of Breton's unheralded habit of wearing an anti-establishment, black-colored shirt under his outerwear); but much more than this, her book offers penetrating, previously undisclosed in- sights into the very nerve center of the surrealist impulse. Further, Breton is re- vealed as a valuable resource on the theo- retical bases of art criticism; and, in a most poignant paradox, he is shown to have been both critic and victim of com- promise. Having fenced himself and his colleagues into tightly circumscribed ethi- cal strictures in the arts, and then exiling himself to the United States during World War II, he incurred the politico-ar- tistic disdain of existentialists Sartre and Camus, as well as others who had re- mained in France during the occupation.

Balakian demonstrates personal artistry based on sound scholarship in her ana- lytic portrayal of the galaxy of beings which constituted Breton the man/poet/ critic/polemicist/entrepreneur. Interest- ingly enough, since Breton by no means considered himself a visual artist and even though Balakian's rather exhaustive study portrays him only as having a "relationship with an art in which he was not adept," it turns out in actual fact that at least on one occasion Breton proved himself to be a sensitive and, indeed, gifted artist whose untitled 1942 collage is a highly valued part of the New York University Art Col- lection (see illustration).

The author's delineation of what might be called Breton's "irrationale" of surreal- ism cogently describes it as an impulse shared by such artists as Chagall, Dali, de Chirico, Duchamp, Ernst, Miro, Man Ray, and Tanguy to: (a) change the in- tention of objects; (b) juxtapose them;

102 102 102

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